Tournament history: First appearance since 2009, when Blake Griffin was there, and 27th in school history. The Sooners are 36-26 all-time in the tournament, with four trips to the Final Four (1939, 1947, 1988, 2002) and two to the championship game (losses in 1947 and ’88).

Coach: Lon Kruger, second season. He becomes the first coach in Division I history to take five different schools to the tournament: Kansas State, Florida, Illinois, UNLV and now Oklahoma. He took UNLV to the Sweet 16 (2007), Kansas State to the Elite Eight (1988) and Florida to the Final Four (1994).

The star: Senior F Romero Osby. The first team all-Big 12 selection averages 15.8 points and 7.0 rebounds while shooting 52.2 percent. A transfer from Mississippi State, he’s scored at least 17 points in the last eight games and averaged 21.5 points.

Familiar face: The other starting post is 6-9 junior Amath M’Baye, who spent two seasons at Wyoming in the Mountain West before transferring after Coach Heath Schroyer was fired. He averages 10.1 points and 5.2 rebounds.

The X factor: Senior G Steven Pledger. He averages 11.8 points but can get streaky. He was 2-of-17 behind the arc in the first four games of February, then made 27 of his next 54. Against Texas, he had six 3-pointers in the first half alone. He ranks second in school history with 248 made treys.

Key stat: The Sooners are fairly ordinary in most statistical categories, but they’re superb at the free-throw line. They made 76 percent this season, first in the Big 12 and 10th in the nation.

Signature wins: 72-66 against Kansas on Feb. 9. The Sooners also beat Oklahoma State and Iowa State, also at home.

Bad losses: There’s the 92-86 overtime loss at Texas on Feb. 27 after leading by 22 with 7:54 to go, and the 70-67 loss at TCU on March 9 after trailing by as much as 25. It was just the second conference win by TCU, which has a 234 RPI.

Computer ratings: Oklahoma is 42 in RPI (SDSU is 30), 43 in Sagarin (32) and 51 in Pomeroy (26).

Quotable: “It means a lot, especially to the guys that have been her the longest and suffered through some of the hard seasons. We’re blessed and grateful.” – Osby, on Oklahoma’s senior class making the NCAA Tournament for the first time.